Craic On

It could be a bumper festival – or we may have to turn away some of the acts. This year’s DylanFest was reckoned to be one of the best.

The problem that we have is the number of pubs in Moville who want to put on the DylanFest rather than the number of class acts we can get.

Here are some top Dylan acts that want to play the DylanFest in 2014:-

Al Diesan

What can I say about Al. What a performance on the Saturday night in Rosatos even without Pino Tocca his sidekick from Sardinia off the coast of Italy. It was like a stadium crowd with roars of approval after every song and a tremendous roar that was spine tingling at the end of Like A Rolling Stone.

Al, himself, said he’d never sensed anything like it before and he has been playing Dylan for at least a couple of decades. It was a really memorable performance. It’s just a shame that it wasn’t filmed. Al filmed his Thursday set in Rosatos and his Friday set in Maguires but not the Saturday gig as he said it was too crowded and too noisy.

Here’s a short film Al made of DylanFest 2010 – click here

Shame!

Jacques Mees

Jacques was a sensation at DylanFest 2011 but couldn’t make it over from Holland last year for health reasons. People were putting him in the same bracket as Al Diesan for his performances in 2011 especially the one in the Bar-a-Cuda on the Sunday night.

Here’s a clip from it – click here

However, because we had so many acts and so few pubs we were only able to get him one gig this year and so he was not able to come over as he would have been losing money. Jacques is a full-time musician unlike Al who is normally weekends only. We will be trying very hard to get him back for DylanFest 2014.

Jacques came back later that year in October and played a great session in Rosatos with Paddy the Shoe, Egon and Gary. It’s well worth watching – click here

Michael Moravek

Michael Moravek came over from Germany last year and played with Kerstin Becker. Sadly she couldn’t make it this year. She had her ticket booked but as she was pregnant her doctor advises against it. However, Michael came by himself and formed a formidable partnership with Sean Hiboy. We would certainly want more of that.

Here’s a clip of them playing in Rawdons – click here

here’s his tale of arriving in Moville for DylanFest 2012 – click here

Steph Buhe

Steph Buhe came over from France to play the first three years of the DylanFest 2007-2009 but his partner had a baby so they couldn’t make it the next few years. He had wanted to come back this year but because of the dearth of pubs we couldn’t bring him over. He really went down with the crowds at Rawdons who like the fact that he played the well-known classic Dylan songs that they could sing along to. We hope to bring him over next year.

Bulrush

These are the two guys from Derry, Ryan O’Dochartaigh and Kevin Brown who played on the Sunday night in Rosatos at DylanFest 2013. They also played the Bar-a-Cuda with a full band in 2010. Both were memorable performances. They play Dylan up tempo. They returned for the RocktoberFest recently. We’ll certainly want them back.

Blowins In The Wind

They are a five-piece Dylan band from Sligo who wanted to play this year’s DylanFest but we couldn’t get them a gig. THey really want to play at DylanFest 2014. They got in touch to ask if I could get them a gig up here over Christmas so that we could see what they can do so they can get themselves a booking for DylanFest 2014 here.

Bobby Harrison

Bobby played a Dylan Set at the Tall Ships race in Greenock in Scotland and plays at other events in Scotland. I got a message from a friend of mine in Scotland the other day saying “Gerry, I just got a phone call from Bobby Harrison. He told me that Bob Dylan has watched the youtube videos of Bobby performing at the Oran Mor Festival in Glasgow and was impressed. He has invited Bobby to meet him when he comes to perform in Glasgow soon. Bobby asked me to let you know he is keen to perform at next years Dylanfest”.

Mickey ‘The Hat’ Roberts

Mickey, from North Wales, had been to every DylanFest since 2008 when he had to pull out last year because of injury. It was great to see him back this year as guys like him are what the DylanFest is all about. He plays more obscure songs that the Dylan aficionados just love.

Billy McInnes

From Scotland, originally, Billy now lives in Donegal and has come for most of the DylanFests here. He and Micky organised and played at, a great Open Mic session in Maguires this year which was scheduled for early afternoon but went on and on till the night-time acts started. he and Mickey also played open airs at the Putting Green Cafe.

Added to that there are the local Dylan acts like Paddy the Shoe and Sean Hiboy who are of international standard.

Get Them All

If we managed to get them all over for Stuck Inside of Moville, the DylanFest on the Lough 2014 that would be some festival.

There is some cause for hope. Big Ben’s (the Town Clock) had already booked acts by the time we asked them. The Caiseal Mara should be back open by then and they normally put on acts. Sometimes we have put on acts in the street and when the weather permitted they were great. However, the weather doesn’t always permit and has ruined one or two gigs.

Caiseal Mara

I was thinking of maybe trying to put on the evening gig in the Caiseal Mara, say 8pm to 11pm, instead of in the street, in the big Function Room, and then people can go onto the other pubs afterwards to listen to the other Dylan acts. Candidates for playing there would be Blowins in the Wind from Sligo and Bulrush form Derry’s full band – but we’ll see.

There’s also the Bar-a-Cuda which may be back open by then and which aways put on acts. That back room can hold up to 200 according to Mike Murphy.

So, the indications are very good that it could be a bumper DylanFest next year and maybe the best ever.

It will take place from August 21st to 24th in 2014. Mark it in your calendar.

Accommodation

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